Two painters killed while working on a highway bridge over the Fox River in Elgin were identified Thursday as John Maroulis, 44, and Javier Valadez-Chavez, 31, both of Chicago, authorities said.

Kane County Coroner Charles West said both men were electrocuted Wednesday morning when they or their aerial lift basket came into contact with high voltage wires under the U.S. Highway 20 bridge. The men were sandblasting the underside of the bridge at the time, officials said.

When emergency crews arrived, the metal basket carrying the men was extremely close to a power line, said Elgin Fire Capt. Robb Cagann, who led the team that removed the bodies.

"From above, it looked less than a foot," Cagann said.

Federal safety regulations say there must be at least 10 feet between an aerial lift and power lines.

The men worked for Lansing-based Eagle Painting and Maintenance Co., which had a contract with the Illinois Department of Transportation to clean and paint the bridge.

Steve Sakoutis, Eagle's president, declined to comment Thursday, other than to say, "It's kind of hard. These weren't just employees. They were friends."

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the deaths.

Eagle Painting has been cited previously for workplace safety violations, including a 2005 fatality when an employee fell while working on a bridge in Kentucky, according to the federal safety agency's records and newspaper accounts. The death remains under investigation.

About 26 construction workers die every year in accidents involving aerial lifts, and electrocution is one of the leading causes, said Michael McCann, director of safety research at the non-profit Center for Construction Research and Training, in Silver Spring, Md.

The number represents about 2 percent to 3 percent of all construction deaths in the U.S., McCann said.

"Part of the problem is lack of adequate training," McCann said. "Most construction contractors rent their aerial lifts, and there are so many different models that have different control panels. You can see the kind of confusion that can create."

"There have been a lot of fatalities where someone hit one switch and instead of moving forward, it shot up," he said.

Other deaths result from falls or when equipment collapses or tips over, he said.

Cagann's rescue team, made up of 50 specially trained firefighters from 12 northwest suburban agencies, was called to recover the bodies Wednesday after authorities determined they could not operate the boom that supported the metal basket. The basket was about 20 feet from the bridge and 20 feet from the ground.

Flames that engulfed the basket damaged the hydraulic system that operated the boom, Cagann said.

Two rescue workers, equipped with a life-safety rope designed for rappelling, were lowered from the bridge and into the lift basket to recover the bodies.